Week 10 Football Recap

This week of football had three separate collapses.

Browns 20, Jets 26

In the battle of the Ryans, and Mangini’s revenge game, Hillis pounded the rock for 84 yards and a td against one the best defenses, while Colt McCoy displayed his poise again tying the game on a two minute drive. Both teams had opportunities to win the game but missed field goals and fumbles extended the overtime period. With 16 seconds left before a tie, Sanchez threw a quick out to Santonio Holmes and the defense, which had held the Jets to 20 points after nearly five quarters, collapsed with three missed tackles causing the game winning play. There are no morale victories in football. While losing in overtime with 16 seconds left to a 7-2 team would have been impressive two months ago, the Browns squandered a golden opportunity. If Cleveland had prevailed, at 4-5 they were facing five straight winnable games and a possible playoff push. Now at 3-6 with Cribbs dislocating four toes and Fujita injured, the Browns will be playing spoiler and for momentum for next season, which is a lot less fun to follow.

Cavaliers 23, Terrapins 42

On senior day, UVa took a 23-21 lead in the third quarter including another trick play on special teams. Unfortunately after the picturesque sunset, the Wahoos collapsed in the fourth quarter. Two picks, 16 penalties, and 21 points later the Cavs fell to 4-6. With two road games left, and Ras I Dowling injured for the rest of the year, there’s not much to root for until next season. Hopefully VT loses to Miami next week, so our game will mean something since we could be able to prevent them from going to the championship game.

Redskins 28, Eagles 59

Wow, that was embarrassing. With a national audience watching, coming off a bye week, the Skins laid a huge egg against a division rival. The only fireworks from the Skins were during the player intros as the Eagles jumped to an historic 35-0 lead. After the first play which Vick flicked his wrist for a 70 yard bomb, Washington’s collapse was almost comical. It was like watching a game of Madden on rookie. Including the last quarter of the UVa game, and the first quarter and first play of the 2nd quarter of the Skins game, I witnessed my teams get outscored 56-0. Combined with the pouring rain, here was the FedEx crowd to begin the second half. Of course the big news was Donovan McNabb’s absurd contract extension, which he proved its worth with three picks against his former team and understudy. The other bloated contract showed his pass rushing prowess by laying on the ground like a beached whale allowing Vick to stand in the pocket for seven seconds and find an open receiver in the end zone. It doesn’t get any easier going to Tennessee and scrambling QB Vince Young next week.

Colts 23, Bengals 17

The only team to win this week was my 1%, just great. I barely saw any of the game since I was watching and following the Browns. Manning had one of his worst statistical games and TO’s TD streak ended. Blah.

Week 4 Football Recap

Browns 23, Bengals 20 – VICTORY! After blowing fourth quarter leads in each of the previous three games, Cleveland finally held on for the victory. I may be getting a Peyton jersey again, Hillis that is, after the runningback’s consecutive solid performance. Unlike the previous games, there was no killer turnover or penalty leading to the Brown’s demise. While Senaca Wallace’s numbers were down, Cleveland only had one turnover and 44 yards of penalties. While it was encouraging to see Ward’s physical play in crushing Shipley in the endzone, penalty and all, Eric Wright got torched again while TO had a career day on my fantasy benches. It’s really good that Cleveland got off the schnide now, with 3-1 Atlanta, 3-1 Pittsburgh, 3-1 New Orleans, 2-1 New England, and 3-1 NY Jets coming up. Yikes!

Cavs 14, Seminoles 31 – Apparently Florida State isn’t a D-2 school. The Nole’s turned the “white out” T-shirts into flags of surrender. Half the crowd was gone after thirty minutes after UVa’s embarrassing first half performance. Verica was inaccurate, took too many sacks, and threw a pick in the end zone, ending the faint hopes of a comeback in the third quarter. Nine penalties and missed tackles causing long touchdown runs also contributed to the embarrassment. The only thing that went right was that the Cavman video/team entrance was synched together for once. A quick glance at the schedule shows only possibly 3-4 wins out there this season, (UNC, E Mich, @ Duke, MD). Hopefully there’s at least nice weather for tailgates at these games.

Redskins 17, Eagles 12 – The Vick/McNabb drama fizzled fast after the Hokie on Hokie violence injured the Eagles QB’s ribs early in the game. Washington’s last ranked defense stepped up and made Andy Reid look like he was making the right decision starting Vick in over hapless Kolb. The running game looked dominate, McNabb looked sharp at times, and Haynesworth actually showed up. I’m going to petition the NFL to start tracking “holding calls drawn”, since Orakpo would be leading the league. The Skins should have put them away, and definitely should not have come down to another Hail Mary attempt. Now Washington is in a three way tie for first in the division, with idle Dallas in last. While the Burgandy and Gold won’t face another divisional foe until 11/15, the next three games will be brutal, Green Bay, Indy, and Chicago, a combined 8-4.

Colts 28, Jags 31 – I knew the divisional matchup would be tough, despite the recent play of both teams. Jacksonville played a turnover free game after losing two straight while Indy committed two turnovers after coming in off of two losses. But still, a 59 yard game winning field goal? Come on. The Colts still need more balance since they ran for only 58 yards compared to 348 passing. Addai should only receive touchdowns since Peyton only had 350+ yards, two tds and a pick that bounced off his receiver’s hands. Next week, Indy will try to knock off the last undefeated team, Kansas City (really?), which is a role reversal for the annually 10-0 Colts.

Football Week 3 Recap/Week 4 Preview

A combined 2-5 this weekend? Ugh.

Browns 17, Ravens 24 – Cleveland actually showed up against a far more talented team in Baltimore and held a lead in the fourth quarter for the third straight game. Peyton Hillis manned up and ran for the most yards the Ravens have ever allowed to a Brown. I doubt injured Jerome Harrison sniffs the field anytime soon. Senace Wallace was efficient with the ball with a 100+ rating and Cleveland didn’t have a turnover. However, like the other two weeks, the Browns found a way to lose the game. Cornerback Eric Wright had a terrible game covering Anquan Boldin, allowing three TD’s. Why did we bother to draft Joe Haden if we aren’t going to play him? The game clinching play this time was an offsides penalty on a third and short with no timeouts left. Next week the 2-1 Bengals come to town.

Cavaliers 48, VMI 7 – UVa took care of business and routed the Keydets in a sweltering hot day. Even though the win doesn’t count towards bowl eligibility it was still good to iron out the kinks and get healthy. The star of the game was cornerback Chase Minnifield, son of Cleveland Brown cornerback Frank Minnifield, which was one of my starting lineup figures growing up. He had two picks, including an amazing one where he tipped it up and recovered to catch it before going out of bounds. Hopefully he doesn’t return punts anymore, since he muffed one. Senior Ras-I Dowling is the attention grabber, projected first round rd draft pick, but junior Minnifield has been making all the plays this season so far. Strangely enough, over 1,500 VMI cadets showed up for the game in their all white uniforms, while the UVa student section and players were wearing Navy on a sunny 90 degree day. Maybe they were trying to get rid of extra Gatorades at the stadium or something. Saturday 3-1 Florida State comes to C’Ville in a prepared “white-out” promotion. The last time the Seminoles were in Scott Stadium, we were charging the field as they were exiting as the #4 team in defeat. And who doesn’t enjoy watching the ’95 version either?

Redskins 16, Rams 30 – Wow, that was a dud. Washington obviously took St. Louis for granted, stumbling out to a 14-0 hole. After rallying, the vaunted defense failed again, while the offense only scored three points in the second half. Portis is becoming a non-factor and may lose his job after taking a slide like a qb. Nine penalties, two turnovers, and 1-10 on third down isn’t going to get it done against any team, regardless of the record. All the playoff and division talk will be shelved due to the Cowboys’s win and Vick’s resurgence with the Eagles. If next week’s trip to 2-1 Phily wasn’t enough drama already, it was McNabb’s idea to bring Vick to the Eagles in the first place. Hopefully it will be a “sunny” trip to Philadelphia for the Skins.

Colts 27, Broncos 13 – Another week, another 300 yards, three tds, zero picks, and win for Peyton. However, only rushing for 40 yards, while allowing 519, and seeing shots of Freeney going in and out of the locker room are concerning though. The Colts better not overlook the struggling Jags next week in Jacksonville, since Jones-Drew has torn them up in the past and you can never count out a divisional foe.

Due to popular demand, I shortened my fantasy recaps, which is especially timely this week since I got spanked in all three leagues and am now 2-1 across the board.